A bin is commonly used for holding materials separate from other items. Use of a bin is limited only by one's imagination and new uses are being developed everyday. For instance, a relatively new use of bins is a direct result of an age-old problem, the landfill. Most landfills are nothing more than dumping grounds for waste including plastics, aluminum, glass, paper and other materials constructed from limited natural resources. As the rapid increase in population places a high demand on products manufactured from the aforementioned materials, the disposal of such waste has also increased to a level that now exceeds the capacity of present landfills in the United States. For this reason, efforts are now directed into recycling many waste materials providing a dual purpose of lessening the capacity requirements on a landfill as well as the burden on natural resources necessary to make the products. The primary device for holding separated wastes is the bin. Many municipalities have embraced this idea and provide the homeowner with color coded bins separating the recyclable materials such as aluminum, paper, glass, and plastic from each other. One bin may be for paper, another for plastic, yet another for aluminum cans. The recyclable materials are then collected on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
The problem arises in that the public has dutifully responded to the recycling process, and in doing so they have painfully discovered the extensive amount of waste materials that each person produces. The recycling bins provided by the waste company are typically filled to the brim by the time they are picked up for recycling. Should a homeowner miss a pick up day, the weight of the bins can be excessive. If paper is to be recycled and weighted by water, the bin weight can reach one hundred pounds. For larger families or the elderly, the weight of the bins may be excessive. Even if an individual is physically fit, the haste in movement of a weighted bin may result in a painful injury to the back if moved incorrectly.
For this reason, a number of combination recycling bins and transferring carts are set forth in the prior art in an effort to address the transfer of recycle bins. U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,903 discloses a multi-trash bin cart having individual containers of a unique size that are placed upon a movable cart. By use of predefined containers the homeowner may place individual recyclable materials within each container which is then transported from the home to a curb side location where a recycle company can pick up the material by emptying the bins into the receptacle on the waste management vehicle. While the larger bins provide greater storage, the weight also increases and may be difficult for the worker to empty the bins.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,092 discloses a recycling bin cart having multiple shelves available for placement of conventional recycling bins. The bins may be slid off the shelves when necessary and the cart storable by folding the shelves upright allowing the cart to lay in a flattened position. Use of the cart in transferring of the filled bins requires tilting wherein the bins may slide off as there is no means for support of the bins when tilted. If the bins are secured to the shelf and filled with material, any tilting of the cart would result in spillage of the recyclable materials as the bins must tilt accordingly.
The aforementioned problem of holding bins in a stacked position is not limited to recycling bins and can be applied to most any industry where items of like constituents may be placed next to each other. For instance, the mail room of most every company has separate bins for first class, second class, third class, and air mail/packages. When a mail room clerk takes the items to the post office the clerk typically stacks the bins on top of each other which can result in damage to the contents of the mail. Similarly, the weight of multiple bins can exceed an individual's lifting strength resulting in injury to the worker and a possible Workmen Compensation claim. Still another industry that requires bins of dissimilar material may be found on the manufacturing floor of a factory where bins can be used to hold parts for an assembly line. As with any industry where lifting is preformed by the person, injury may result if the bin is lifted incorrectly during transfer. In addition, when multiple bins are used they may take up valuable floor space unless provisions are made for both stacking of the bins as well as access to the contents of the individual bins.
Thus what is needed in the art is a device capable of storing and transporting bins without spillage of the contents placed therein.